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Guy Gavriel Kay


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19 minutes ago, Jaxom 1974 said:

You didn't find the end result at all contrived though? 

No. I initially recoiled from the idea of their having a romance but on further consideration it seemed to me, as I said, that the connection between them isn't romantic at the time Lord of Emperors ends, but something more like a seeking out of comfort and friendship and the desire to make something that will last (a mosaic with dolphins, once; children, now).

I think one thing about the epilogue is that it takes place like a year after the previous chapter. We don't know what has gone on for Alixana in that time, but Crispin imagines it wasn't easy. I think on can see how she could have been swayed towards finding someone she was sympatico with, someone she had some measure of shared experience with but who offered her different things from what her life had been like before.

I can see the note from Gisele indicating that she had a hand in Alixana turning up, but no, I think the reference here was to put us in mind of the fact that Crispin was married once and might marry again.

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I didn't totally hate Alixana turning up to be with Crispin, though as mentioned the fact that every female character that wasn't Gisele wanting a bit of him was pretty corny. But I did think it was contrived that they need to go into further hiding as their conversation strongly implies, since as SeanF said in his original question on this, there doesn't seem to be any particular reason why she should need to once Styliane was out of the way. Even if she somehow avoided news of that for a year, Crispin would surely set her straight immediately. 

Edited by polishgenius
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@Ran...I do not disagree with what you're saying about two souls finding their comfort and all...I don't. It just feels...off...in the execution. At least a little.  Despite their interactions, it never had the feel that it was meant to be...

Eh. It isn't something that ultimately takes away from the overall story...

(I still like Under Heaven and Lions more...and I think part one and Last Light also...damn it's hard to rank these...)

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6 hours ago, polishgenius said:

there doesn't seem to be any particular reason why she should need to once Styliane was out of the way.

Because there would be people who would surely try to use her to her own ends among the Antae. Such as Eudric, getting into his head that Governor is not enough and thinking marrying the former Empress could do a lot to establish his own imperial claim to the western half of the empire. If Alixana were revealed to be alive and well and the subject of potential intrigues, Gisel might then feel a need to remove her -- or, more likely, Leontes would.

Since Crispin made a very handy depiction of her that neither of them wanted to destroy, they really couldn't stick around.

 

Edited by Ran
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  • 3 weeks later...

I just got a promotional email from Amazon offering $5 off River of Stars (because I bought Under Heaven back in July). There's a lot on the virtual and actual book reading piles. Is it worth adding it to the pile? 

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On 8/17/2021 at 10:46 PM, Jerol said:

I just got a promotional email from Amazon offering $5 off River of Stars (because I bought Under Heaven back in July). There's a lot on the virtual and actual book reading piles. Is it worth adding it to the pile? 

I enjoyed it, but then I've never met a GGK book I did not like (well, except for A Song for Arbonne the first time I tried to read it, for some reason). That said, River of Stars is not among my favorite GGK books, whereas I'd say Under Heaven probably is. So... I don't know, I guess it depends on whether you liked Under Heaven. If yes, no harm trying River of Stars.

Edited by Ran
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I really liked Under Heaven but thought River of Stars fell very flat (and for me, was the start of GGK's decline as a really enjoyable author). It seems you have a lot on your backlog, @Jerol, so If you have a library near you, I would take it out from there instead.

I re-read The Sarantine Mosaic in the last year. I still loved the books, but one thing that absolutely rubbed me the wrong way (which didn't bother me as a teenager when I first read them) was the fact that every woman character is attracted to sexy hunk mosaicist Crispin. It felt completely like authorial wish-fulfillment and makes the ending not work for me.

 

Edited by Caligula_K3
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  • 3 weeks later...

Ah...spending an evening with with GGK reread...just of this whole thread...

And trying to listen to any of the novels I can get on audio...just strengthens the enjoyment of so many of these. I mean, I already loved Last Light of the Sun, but listening to it...just amazing.

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  • 1 month later...

Not sure how long this has been out there, but Linda noticed today that you can now pre-order All The Seas of the World... and there's an extended description of the book that hints at the initial plot:

Quote
Spoiler

On a dark night along a lonely stretch of coast a small ship sends two people ashore. Their purpose is assassination. They have been hired by two of the most dangerous men alive to alter the balance of power in the world. If they succeed, the consequences will affect the destinies of empires, and lives both great and small.  
   
One of those arriving at that beach is a woman abducted by corsairs as a child and sold into years of servitude. Having escaped, she is trying to chart her own course—and is bent upon revenge. Another is a seafaring merchant who still remembers being exiled as a child with his family from their home, for their faith, a moment that never leaves him. In what follows, through a story both intimate and epic, unforgettable characters are immersed in the fierce and deadly struggles that define their time.  
  
All the Seas of the World is a page-turning drama that also offers moving reflections on memory, fate, and the random events that can shape our lives—in the past, and today.

 

Admittedly, the general description does bring to mind both Children of Earth and Sky and A Brightness Long Ago in regards to thematics, but if anyone has something more to say about the topics of memory, fate, and random chance, it's GGK.

The plot description is somewhat too thin to guess much of the action, I think. Though I am going to guess that 

Spoiler

the merchant is Kindath. 

 

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